Ghana Foreign Direct Investment (USD bn)

GDP growth appeared to moderate in Q4: Average economic activity in October–November contracted, plummeting to its lowest annual rate since the Covid-19 outbreak, while inflation reached a more than two-decade high. Turning to Q1 2023, data appears downbeat. The PMI remained in contractionary territory for the twelfth month in a row during January. In other news, the government finally closed its domestic debt restructuring program on 10 February, shifting maturities to 2028 from 2023 and reducing coupon rates, amongst other things. This was a requirement to access the IMF USD 3 billion bailout and to pursue external debt restructuring talks. With regard to the latter, in mid-January Paris Club members agreed on a creditors’ committee to potentially cancel Ghana’s external debt. However, given its track record, Ghana’s largest bilateral creditor, China, might not agree to such a restructuring deals.